


Save Me

by Animedemon01



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions
Genre: AU, Aether Foundation, Angst, Child Abuse, The events of sun and moon don't happen, more tag will be added, no cosmog, team skull - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-27
Updated: 2017-02-05
Packaged: 2018-09-02 12:53:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8668351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Animedemon01/pseuds/Animedemon01
Summary: AULillie tries to survive her mothers abuse, even when she must suffer alone.OrGladion thought he escaped, but the horror doesn't end.On hold until I get my inspiration for this story back.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing a really dark fic, so please tell me how the first chapter turned out.

“I’ve sacrificed so much for you little brats and this is how you repay me? Do you think I’m proud to call myself your mother when I slave away all day to put a roof over your heads and _this_ is how you repay me?”

“Maybe if you actually acted like a mother, we’d treat you like one!”

Six year old Lillie pulled her knees closer to her chest. She couldn’t take the yelling and the fighting, she hated the warzone her once peaceful home had become.

At first they were a happy family, then, a few months ago, daddy and mommy started fighting, and daddy left. Ever since then, mommy worked late and came home smelling like alcohol. Mommy would find every reason to belittle her and her ten year old brother, Gladion.

Lillie hadn’t meant to break that vase, she really hadn’t. But when Gladion locked himself away in his room, there was nobody to tell her not to play ball in the house. Mommy never let them outside anymore, and she really wanted to play with the sparkly, red ball grandpa had sent her for her birthday. She hadn’t meant to break that old vase, but it didn’t matter.

Gladion had come running when he heard the crash. He paid no attention to Lillie, and instead focused his attention on fixing the vase, to no avail. Lillie watched as he grew more and more panicked with each failed attempt, before snatching up the pieces and hiding them in his room.

Lillie hoped mommy wouldn’t notice, but every time something got broken, it always ended the same. When mommy got home, she _did_ notice the missing vase, and as always, Gladion shoved Lillie behind the sofa and took the blame.

Lillie never covered her ears when the fights started; she only allowed herself that when the worst came. The screaming was nothing anymore; the worst was yet to come.

“Dad would never treat us like this! He actually cared about as, unlike you!” Gladion screamed.

“Your father doesn’t give a damn about you two? You think he’d leave if he actually cared? That bastard left for a reason, you son of a bitch!”

“If I’m the son of a bitch, than what the hell does that make you?”

“I’ll teach you to disrespect me, you insolent brat!”

Smack!

Lillie covered her ears; as much as she hated it, she knew she couldn’t stop it. She tried to protect Gladion once, but mommy started hitting her instead. When Gladion stepped in, mommy hurt him worse than she ever did before, even going as far as shoving him down the basement steps and leaving him down there all night. Lillie watched the next morning as the ambulance mommy finally called took him away. She was there when mommy told the social worker that Gladion had fallen down the stairs, but forgot to mention that _she_ pushed him.

Covering her ears worked for a while, but as the abuse got worse, Gladion’s cries of pain found their way to her ears. She wanted to come clean, but knew telling mommy who _really_ broke the vase, but knew it would just end in a beating for them both; a beating for her for actually breaking the vase and another beating for Gladion for lying (mommy always seemed to hate him the most).

Lillie uncovered her ears as the cries of pain stopped, but didn’t come out until mommy left and Gladion came for her. Bleeding from a gash on his forehead and holding back tear, he pulled her into a hug before limping back into his room.

Lillie retreated back into her own room, pressing her ear to the wall to hear Gladion sobbing into his pillow. As always, she waited until his breaths evened out into sleep before letting herself fall asleep as well.


	2. Chapter 2

At eight years old, Lillie spent most of the days at home alone. When Gladion turned twelve, their mother had decided that he’d be given more freedom, if he were to study under her guidance to follow in her footsteps. She brought him to the lab every day, training him to be of use to the foundation and educating him in her studies.

Lillie didn’t see her brother as much anymore. On weeknights, he’d come home from the lab exhausted and would head off to bed before dinner. On weekends, when he was allowed to leave the house, he wouldn’t return until his 8 PM curfew, leaving Lillie little if any tie to actually talk to him. On the bright side, their mother was always too occupied with Gladion’s training to really interact with either of them at home.

Wicke, one of her mother’s employees, had started dropping by their household more and more often. She was the only other person allowed in their house, which Lillie always found strange. Maybe she was the only person Lusamine trusted to keep their lives a secret? Lillie didn’t care too much, she liked the company.

 

Lillie waited by the front door, wondering where her mother and Gladion could be. It was almost 10 and yet no sign of them; they were usually back at 7 at the latest. She almost drifted off on the couch, only to snap out of it when she heard the doorknob turn. But it wasn’t her mother or Gladion at the door; instead it was Wicke.

“I am sorry to inform you Miss Lillie, but Miss Lusamine and young master Gladion will be arriving late tonight. Well, _later_ -they don’t know how long it will be. There was, well, an incident in the lab today, and Miss Lusamine is needed to deal with it. She sent me over to stay with you until she returns.”

Lillie wondered, if something had happened, and her mother was needed to fix it, then why didn’t Wicke bring Gladion back with her? Then it clicked.

“Where’s Gladion? What happened, is he okay?”

Wicke looked at the ground and then back at Lillie before replying. “I am not permitted to go into detail about what happened, but it did involve young master Gladion. He should be fine; Miss Lusamine does not like to discipline him in front of her employees.”

As if on cue, Lusamine burst through the door, dragging Gladion by his collar.

“I know it was you!” She screamed at her son, shoving him to the floor. “You thought you covered your tracks so well, nobody else thought it was you, but I knew! How dare you embarrass me in front of my employees like that!”

“It wasn’t me.” Gladion replied, an unnerving calm in his voice. “It was probably one of those fresh out of college idiots you hired last month, you really should install cameras in those labs of yours.”

“I thought I didn’t need cameras in that particular lab, considering the level of clearance needed to enter! Besides you, only my most trusted employees are allowed in, and _they_ would never do something like _this_ to me!”

Lillie watched in horror as her mother clawed the right side of Gladion’s face with her perfectly groomed nails.

Lillie breathed a sigh of relief, certain that Gladion would suffer no more than a few bloody scratches down the side of his face, nothing that wouldn’t heal in a week or two. That was until his eye started bleeding; a little trickle at first, but after just a few seconds, his eye was covered in blood. Gladion didn’t seem to notice how dire the situation truly was, giving no other response besides attempting to blink away the blood.

Lillie froze, uncertain certain what to do. She wasn’t the only one to react this way, however; it was as if the entire room froze in panic, safe for Gladion trying to blink away the blood.

Wicke was the first one to snap out of it. “Miss Lusamine, we need to get young master Gladion to the hospital now! His eye is bleeding; he could lose his vision without treatment, or even die!”

Lusamine shook her head. “He’s fine; I’ll take him to the doctor tomorrow. Look, he doesn’t seem to be in any pain; wounds in the head just bleed a lot, you know that.”

“But Miss Lusamine, if he’s not reacting to the pain, we should be very concerned; he’s clearly in shock. I think you were the one to tell me that shock can kill.”

Lusamine turned to walk away. “I’ll take him in the morning, maybe he can take that time to reflect upon what he did.”

Wicke grabbed her shoulder before she was able to leave. “Miss Lusamine, if you don’t take young master Gladion to the hospital right now I-I’ll quit!”

Lusamine sighed, she didn’t want to lose her best employee. “Fine, I’ll take him right now, proving you put Lillie to bed before you leave.”

Without waiting for a reply, she dragged Gladion, who was now holding the sleeve of his jacket to his bleeding eye, out the front door, slamming it behind her.

 

Lillie was rather obedient to Wicke when she was there, but after the woman had left, she exited her own room and headed to Gladion’s room to wait for him, however, it wasn’t until the wee hours of the morning that he’d come back.

To say Gladion looking like crap would’ve been an understatement. Blood stained his blonde hair a slight red in places, and Lillie _knew_ he wasn’t that pale when he left. His damaged eye was now hidden behind a sterile patch.

Lillie hugged him, nearly knocking him down with the way she jumped at him.

“Gladion!” Despite her excitement, she was careful to keep her voice down. “Are you okay? How’s your eye?”

He gave a shrug. “I’ve had better days. I had to get stitches in my eye, sixteen of them, and the doctor said I’ve lost at least 75% of my vision in that eye, but I’m still alive. You want to know what our mother told the doctor? She said _you_ scratched up my eye, never mind those claws she calls fingernails.”

“Does it hurt?”

He shook his head. “Not at the moment; they gave me a lot of medicine for the pain. I don’t think I’ll get any tomorrow, though, as _punishment_. Our mother was right, I was the one who caused the incident.”

“What incident?” Lillie asked him.

“This is gonna sound crazy, but the Aether foundation, the place our mother works at, has been freezing Pokemon for some crazy reason.” He told her. “There was this one Pokemon, Type: Null, it was a Synthetic Pokemon that they made in the lab. There was just something about that Pokemon, it didn’t belong there. So I unfroze it and let it go, it ran off somewhere. There’s no proof I did it, but she’s right.”

 

After that day, Gladion started growing out his bangs to cover his right eye; he felt it useless due to him only recovering about 10% of his sight in it, and really detached from his appearance.  As the hunt for Type: Null become more and more desperate, their family drifted farther apart evermore.

 Lusamine became more controlling of her children each day. It was her goal to transform Gladion from the person he was to the person she wanted him to be, and to make sure Lillie never ended up like her brother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back at school again, so it might be a little longer between chapters, sorry.
> 
> I really like when people comment, so please consider doing so.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, its been a while since I've posted any chapters. The combination of school and the busy holiday season hasn't given me much free time.

Lillie remembered the night Gladion left quite clearly. It was a long time coming, really; every harsh word, bruise, and late night drove him closer to the edge, and Lillie had feared what would happen when he _did_ reach his breaking point. She thought there would be blood, maybe even death, but instead he just left quietly.

 

It was the summer after her tenth birthday, an uneventful year. She had wanted to become a Pokemon trainer, but knew her mother would never allow it, and didn’t bother to ask. It wasn’t something she wanted to discuss with anyone. Not even Gladion.

She saw Gladion less and less each passing day. He’d leave with their mother before Lillie was even up, and return long after she went to sleep. He rarely even had the weekends to himself anymore; just work, work, and more work.

 

On the night Gladion finally left, he came home earlier than usual, and without Lusamine. He slammed the door behind him, ignoring Lillie as he stormed into his room, and began shoving his personal belongings and clothing into a backpack.

When Lillie asked him what he was doing, he said simply, “I’m getting the hell out of here; I can’t take it anymore. She stopped experimenting strictly on Pokemon; she recently switched to using her employees as guinea pigs, and two weeks ago, me. I’ll be back for you, don’t worry.”

He’d stolen a good sum of money from Lusamine to survive on, and a boat to escape that so called _paradise_. Lillie watched him leave, but did nothing to stop him; there was nothing she could do.

 

Lusamine arrived home not much later, looking for Gladion. When she discovered his disappearance, she was furious. She destroyed Gladion’s room, searching for any trace of him, before calmly picking up the phone.

“Gather a search team.” She said into the receiver. “It seems Gladion thinks he can just run off whenever he pleases.”

 

Gladion felt sick. He wasn’t sure if it was the realization he’d left Lillie with the cruelest person in the world, the erratic shaking of the boat on the stormy sea, or a combination of both that was causing it. He ignored the guilt that was tearing him apart and instead focused on not throwing up. Lusamine had instilled fear of sickness in him at a young age, and at this point he just ignored the nausea out of instinct.

He wondered about Type: Null. Would he ever see that Pokemon again? For all he knew it had been captured by someone else, or perhaps simply forgot who he was. Right now, that Pokemon wasn’t too important. He knew Lusamine had sent members of the foundation after him, and that his head start was limited. He needed to find a place to hide as soon as possible.

 

Gladion eventually found himself on Akala island, the same place he’d released Type: Null. It was the middle of the night, but he couldn’t sleep just yet. He had to find somewhere to hide for a few days, and wait for Lusamine to give up looking for him.

He took refuge in a cave; he knew he’d only have to stay there a week before everyone gave up looking. Lusamine may’ve been stubborn, but she had more important things to do than look for him.

Gladion changed out of the sweater, grey pants, and lab coat Lusamine insisted he always wear and into one of the black outfit’s he’d bought when back when he was actually allowed freedom. He discarded his old outfit in the back of the cave. He wasn’t Lusamine’s golden boy anymore, so why should he dress like it?

He knew he had to find a job and a place to stay as soon as possible. The quicker he got his life on track, the quicker he could rescue Lillie from that hell hole.

 

With Gladion gone, Lusamine made Lillie her new prodigy. Lusamine had overly high expectations of her daughter. She wanted someone who could replace Gladion right of the bat, not someone she’d have to train again.

Lillie wasn’t used to the hard work and late hours Gladion was once subjected to, and now that she was the only child, she was subjected to all of Lusamine’s rage. He mother was impossible to read; one moment she could be perfectly loving, and the next moment she could snap.

They still hadn’t found Gladion, and Lillie didn’t know if she’d ever see her brother again.


	4. Chapter 4

Gladion was hungry. He’d initially brought enough food to last a week, but thanks to a particularly feisty Yungoos, his supply was gone by day two. He’d put up a good fight against the Pokemon, even getting in a few good punches, but it still took most of his food and left him only cuts and bruises in return. It reminded him of Lusamine.

He couldn’t leave and get more food just yet; they’d still be on the lookout for him. He tried to sleep off the hunger, but one can only sleep for so long, and after three days of the hunger gnawing away at his insides, he found it impossible to close his eyes anymore.

He hadn’t cried in years, but now as he sat alone in the cave, cold, hungry, and afraid, the tears flowed freely. As he cried, he felt something cold and metallic against his back, he turned to find Type: Null pressing its helmet into his back. He wrapped his arms around the Pokemon’s large neck and cried until he fell asleep.

 

“Lillie! Get over here!” Lusamine yelled, malice in her voice.

Lillie didn’t want to face her mother, but she knew it would be so much worse if she didn’t.

“Yes, mother? What’s wrong?”

“You know what you did wrong!”

She didn’t. “No, mother, I don’t.”

Lusamine slapped her across the face, almost sending her to the ground. “The samples, you brat! You mixed the DNA samples wrong and now they’re all ruined. Go mix new ones!”

Lillie ended up mixing those samples three times that night.

 

When Gladion woke up, Type: Null was gone. The tears threatened to fall once again as he realized the only friend he currently had was gone. But then he looked out of the cave and spotted Type: Null walking back, carrying some kind of fruit, He found this odd, considering the synthetic Pokemon didn’t need to eat.

Type: Null presented the food to him, and suddenly he understood. The Pokemon trusted him after he liberated it from the lab, and now it felt the need to protect him.

“Do you want to be my partner?” He asked the Pokemon. “We can take down Lusamine together, and help free Lillie and the other Pokemon.

Type: Null gave a nod and he tossed a Pokeball-the one he’d bought two years ago when he knew he wanted to become a Pokemon trainer-at the Pokemon. Type: Null did not resist; the Pokeball shook only once before stopping.

As Gladion held the Pokeball, he felt a rush of power. He’d finally done it; he’d become a Pokemon trainer like he’d always wanted to be.

 

The week was over, and while Gladion knew Lusamine had likely stopped looking for him, he was still a bit cautious. He had enough money for a motel room, and knew that the one on Route 8 always had vacancies, so that’s where he and Type: Null headed, fighting trainers along the way so that the Pokemon would grow stronger.

The woman at the desk gave him an odd look as he paid her in advance for two years, but she made no comment and accepted his money without any problem.

Gladion enjoyed his first night of freedom, no longer on the run from Lusamine and now with a Pokemon of his own. Type: Null slept at the foot of the bed, and he kept an eye on it as to keep it from causing any damage to the hotel room. The Pokemon wasn’t so much destructive, more just a bit klutzy.

He hadn’t been allowed to watch much TV as a kid, but now that he was on his own, he could stay up watching it all night if he wanted to. And that’s what he would have done, had he not have fallen asleep around ten PM.

 

Lillie really hoped her brother was better off than she was. All search efforts for Gladion had lead to no sign of his presence, although they did find the boat he stole abandoned off the Coast of Akala Island. As far as anyone knew, he could’ve disappeared off the face of the Earth.

Lusamine was oddly calm now that the search efforts had ended.

“If that brat wants to starve to death out there in the wilderness, I say we let him. I don’t care if he ever comes back.” She had said.

Lillie had learned that all the terrible things Gladion had said were happening behind the scenes of the oh so innocent looking Aether Foundation. But unlike her brother, she was neither strong nor brave enough to actually do anything about it. So instead she just took Lusamine’s abuse and did exactly as she was told.

 

As Gladion left his motel room in search of some actual food that _didn’t_ come from a vending machine with Type: Null close behind him, he was suddenly ambushed by an oddly dressed group of four trainers.

“Yo, hand over that Pokemon to Team Skull or prepare to face the beating of a lifetime.” Said one grunt.

“Ain’t nobody mess with team skull.” Said another.

Gladion was never one to back down from a challenge. “Bring it!”

The first member of the group sent out a Zubat, which attempted to confuse Type: Null. But since Type: Null always seemed a bit confused, the attack had little effect, and Zubat had been finished off in no time.

The next three battles followed a similar pattern, until Type: Null had defeated the Spinarack, the Rattata, and the Fomantis that the other three possessed.

 As Gladion returned Type: Null to its Pokeball after the last battle, a man with white hair and sunglasses stepped out from behind the grunts.

“You got potential, kid. We could really use someone like you.” The man said. “The name’s Guzma, how would you like to become a member of Team Skull?”

Gladion wasn’t in much of a position to say no.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember when the only Team Skull was in Pokemon Mystery dungeon? Pepperidge farm remembers.


End file.
